1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to ball-throwing apparatus, and more particularly to a throw and fetch system or apparatus for continuously and automatically throwing, launching, shooting, or tossing a ball which is then chased, fetched and returned to the apparatus by a dog or similar ball-fetching animal where it is deposited or collected when it is dropped by the dog to be launched again and again for as long as the dog continues to return it after each fetch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manually throwing a ball, or a similar object, for a ball-retrieving animal, such as a pet dog, in order that the dog can chase and fetch the ball, is an activity which is probably as old as the man-dog relationship. However, as any dog owner knows, at least some dogs never seem to get enough of this throw and fetch game, and the human owner usually wears out long before the dog is ready to call it enough for the day.
Furthermore, many pet owners suffer from arm ailments, lack of muscular strength, old age, and the like, and so they often cannot play throw and fetch with their pet dogs at all. Most dogs need this type of activity for exercise, as well as enjoyment, hence they are deprived when the owner cannot play the game or when the owner gives up far too soon to meet the animal's needs.
Various ball-throwing machines are present in the priort art, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,897,317 which issued to H. R. McEachern in Feb. 1933 for a Ball Throwing Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 2,313,409 which issued to C. L. Walker on Mar. 9, 1943 for a Tennis Ball Trap; U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,379 which issued to Hien Vodinh on Apr. 30, 1974 for a "Spring-Type Ball Projecting Device With Programming Control Means"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,095 which issued to Richard Speer on June 16, 1971 for a "Pneumatically-Operated Ball Projecting Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,953 which issued to T. Osaka et. al. on May 21, 1985 for a "Ball Throwing Machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,100 which issued to Lawrence D. Whitaker on Apr. 1, 1986 for a "Ball Throwing Machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,340 which issued to Craig D. Jenkins et. al. on Apr. 1, l986 for a "Basketball Return Device"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,060 which issued to William J. Greene on May 30, 1989 for a "Hand-Carried Battery Powered Ball Throwing Apparatus".
However, all of the ball-throwing apparatus fo the prior art are extremely mechanically complex, difficult to maintain, and excessively costly, both to buy and to repair. Furthermore, none of the devices shown in these Patents are designed for a pet's benefit or use. Such mechanisms are used to throw tennis balls, baseballs, basketballs, etc., and most must be reloaded with a plurality or batch of balls at the end of a cycle before they can be used again. None uses a single ball which is thrown and which must then be retrieved and reloaded before it can be thrown again, since humans do not like to play fetch-type games.
therefore, a long felt and unfulfilled need has existed in the prior art and continues to exist today for a relatively mechanically simple, easy-to-maintain, easy-to-use, relatively low cost ball-throwing mechanism which the human owners can use to play throw and fetch with their ball-fetching aminals for as long as the animal wants to play and without tiring the human or even requiring that he or she be physically able to throw a ball at all.
The present invention solves substantially all of the needs of the prior art while avoiding any and all of its previous short-comings.